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The different types of stains and their treatment
At any age you can see dark colored spots appear on your skin. Hormonal imbalance, sun, pregnancy… where do these pigmentation disorders come from? How to treat them? Explanations.
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There are a multitude of spots. Among them, the congenital spots, on which it is difficult to intervene. The best known are freckles or ephelids, Mongolian spots on the back and buttocks of babies with dark or dark skin, and angiomas. Some of these spots spontaneously disappear over time.
However, other types of spots can appear during life. To understand their cause, one must take an interest in the process of coloring the skin. The melanocyte is the cell that makes the melanin grains and then distributes them to the keranocytes (cells that cover the skin). The more melanin we have, the darker and more protected our skin is. Dark or dark skin is therefore much less likely to have melanoma. But they are also more affected by pigmentation disorders since they produce more melanin.
Melanin production goes wrong
Hyperpigmentation may be linked to a melanocyte dysfunction under the influence of a triggering factor such as UV rays, hormones or drugs, or an increase in the number of melanocytes in a concentrated area. Result : melanin accumulates in excess in some places of the skin to the detriment of others and spots appear. Certain products applied to the skin can also cause spots in the event of associated sun exposure.
Another pigmentation disorder, when the melanocyte goes out of order after inflammation of the epidermis (eczema, acne, psoriasis, lichen). The skin then reacts by making excess melanin. Generally speaking, any inflammatory lesion of the skin can generate a dark or light spot.
The pregnancy mask
Very dreaded by pregnant women, the pregnancy mask (or chloasma) is also favored by the sun. It is characterized by more or less brown spots, unsightly, in a sheet or with irregular contours which often develop symmetrically on the forehead, cheeks, or lips. This disorder occurs most of the time during pregnancy but it can also appear on the pill or spontaneously. In all cases, sun exposure without protection remains the trigger. Women with dark or dark skin are more likely to develop a pregnancy mask, but fair skin is not exempt. And some men are sometimes also affected.
Age spots
Prolonged, intense sun exposure can cause dark spots called lentigines or “graveyard flowers” to form. They are the sign of skin aging. Too much sun causes the melanocyte to weaken, which then distributes the melanin in a random fashion. These spots are mainly localized on areas generally exposed to light, such as the face, hands, arms, neckline. This disorder is common on fair skin, which reacts less well to UV rays. But these spots do not only concern the elderly. They can appear prematurely from the age of 30, if the sun exposure was sudden (with sunburn) or exaggerated during childhood. When the skin is covered by these spots, the person is said to have helioderma. Skin monitoring is recommended.
Brown spots: how to treat them?
Birthmarks or genetic marks are almost impossible to remove. For the others, it will be necessary to combine several treatments depending on the case. Namely: when a spot is deep, it tends to become bluish. Getting rid of it will be all the more difficult. The dermatologist can therefore, as a first step, prescribe a depigmenting preparation and associate it with a lightening cream. Without result, he will be able to propose either cryotherapy, a more aggressive treatment based on liquid nitrogen, either laser sessions or peels. In addition to these various treatments, the daily use of a sunscreen is essential. For best results, act as quickly as possible, as soon as the stain occurs or shortly after. The most reasonable thing is to prevent its appearance by using a high protection sunscreen.